Mayo Clinic in Arizona to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients  —  Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) — The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

The God That Fails  —  During the middle third of the 20th century, Americans had impressive faith in their own institutions.  It was not because these institutions always worked well.  The Congress and the Federal Reserve exacerbated the Great Depression.

Obama Palin Shoe Shining Email Could Get Colorado State Worker In Trouble  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  DENVER (AP) — A Colorado state employee could be disciplined for sending an e-mail showing President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Judge Drops Charges From Blackwater Deaths in Iraq  —  WASHINGTON — In a significant blow to the Justice Department, a federal judge on Thursday threw out the indictment of five former Blackwater security guards over a shooting in Baghdad in 2007 that left 17 Iraqis dead and about 20 wounded.

TSA nominee misled Congress about accessing confidential records  —  The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration gave Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws …

2009 Deadliest Year for U.S. in Afghanistan  —  U.S. Casualties More Than Double in Afghanistan Over Iraq  —  Eight years after the war began, 2009 was the deadliest year for U.S. service members fighting in Afghanistan and the first time American casualties there exceeded the number in Iraq, Pentagon records show.

CIA caught in dirty and secretive war against al-Qaeda on Afghan border  —  The deaths of seven CIA agents in Khost province have brought into the limelight the secretive and dirty war being fought by America's intelligence agencies — and the Taleban and al-Qaeda — in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Chinese New Year  —  It's the season when pundits traditionally make predictions about the year ahead.  Mine concerns international economics: I predict that 2010 will be the year of China.  And not in a good way.  —  Actually, the biggest problems with China involve climate change.

A Note about the Armoured Vehicles from China to Iran  —  (the information about the armoured vehicles in this text has been confirmed by multiple sources):  —  Finally, with the arrival of the first shipment of armoured vehicles, China has officially joined in to repress the Iranian people …

U.S. Transferred Detainee Before Hostage Release  —  BAGHDAD — Only hours before a British hostage was released, the American military turned over to Iraqi authorities one of the suspected leaders of a Shiite insurgent group believed to be behind the kidnapping, Iraqi officials said Thursday.

What ever happened to the “Duke 88”?  —  The “Duke 88” consisted of 88 Duke professors who signed an ad which implicitly assumed that Duke lacrosse players raped a black stripper, an allegation that proved to be entirely fraudulent.  The ad praised protesters who had put lacrosse players' photos on …

'Underwear Bomber's' Alarming Last Phone Call  —  Abdulmutallab Called His Father to Say It Would Be Their Last Contact  —  The accused “underwear bomber” made a dramatic final call to his father that he found so alarming, the father approached Nigerian officials who took him directly …